The Flamethrower

For some reason, whenever a shooter has a flamethrower, the devs like to tout the flamethrower as a super fun, super effective, skin singeing, face melting machine that makes your enemies flail around helplessly like headless chickens...on fire. Killzone 2, Far Cry 2, World at War are some guilty examples. Killzone 2 bragged about how realistic the flammable liquid pours out of the hose, Far Cry 2 recommended the flamethrower to take advantage of its fire propagating physics, World at War just said, "Hey its historically accurate and fun to use."

Here's my problems with flamethrowers:

1. Not Enough Ammo (Exception of WaW flamethower) - When I use the flamethrower, I want to hold down the trigger and coat my foes in hell. The flamethrower literally burns through ammo way too quickly. It makes the flamethrower useful for about 10 seconds before you toss it for a more useful weapon.

2. Short Range - The flamethrower is a close quarters weapon. It has longer reach than a melee weapon, but shorter range than a gun. So why not just use a shotgun?

3. Friendly Fire! - I like it when enemies scream in agony and run around to try and cool the flames, but I don't like it when I get hurt just by touching them.

The SUPER MEGA CLUSTER ROCKET LAWNCHER!

I like explosions. Who doesn't? It's always useful to have a rocket launcher when a tank is hounding you or when you've got a platoon of soldiers charging your position. Whenever I found a rocket launcher, I made it a habit of keeping it in my weapon slot because, hey when am I going to come across another one? They put it there for a reason. But then I realized the rocket launcher is only useful for the two scenarios mentioned above.

1. CQC?! - NOT A CLOSE RANGE WEAPON. Why would I want a cluster bomb rocket launcher in tight hallways? I'd end up killing myself.

2. Overkill - Like I said, tanks and big groups are where a rocket launcher can maximize its use. There are times where I'd be really cheap about how much rocket ammo I waste and I'd end up with way too much. So I just end up wasting it on one or two soldiers.

3. Invincible Walls - Maybe not a fault of the rocket launcher, but it is still a factor that negates the usefulness of the rocket launcher. When an enemy is taking cover behind a waist high wall and I shoot a rocket at the wall, the enemy doesn't get sent flying ragdoll style. Instead, the enemy just pops back up and starts shooting again. I always have to end up shooting above or to the side to get the rocket past the cover to make sure the explosion hits.

The Mech

Dude! It's like a walking tank except it moves clunkier, makes for a bigger target, and has less armor than a tank because we have to balance the mech!

1. It Ain't Tank Tier - For some reason devs think that the mech should not be as tough as a tank, so it takes more damage. Ridiculous, if you're giving me machine gun arms and shoulder mounted missile pods, then you might as well throw in the kitchen sink and give me heavy plated armor.

2. Mirror's Edge Syndrome - I can't see my robot feet. This is really problematic when the level designers decide to put exploding barrels in your path, when a rocket wielding enemy is between your legs, or when you're just caught up in a waist high wall.

3. The Bigger They Are - As cool as it would be to have big mecha robots fighting our wars, I just can't help being pulled back to reality and realize what vulnerable giant targets they are.